The colors of the North Carolina corundum are often very fine, and we have seen specimens of a superb blue that retain their hues by candlelight. None of the reds we have ever seen have the true pigeons’-blood tint, but are tinged with blue, and are therefore of a finer shade when seen by artificial light than by daylight. The yellows are also of a decided shade, and generally form a portion only of the crystal or mass of sapphire. Some fine crystals have been found here, but we have seen none so perfectly crystallized as the pyramidal specimens from the Asiatic mines. Several large crystals have been exhumed, one of which weighs three hundred pounds, and is well defined in its form of crystallization. It is now preserved in the valuable cabinet of Professor Shepherd, of Amherst College. A few years ago the gold-miners, while seeking for gold in the river-beds and alluvial deposits among the mountains of Montana, observed little transparent crystals of stone among the nuggets and flakes of gold, as they cleared out their rude apparatus used in washing the auriferous soils. But little notice was taken of these limpid stones, as their colors were generally faint; but the observing gold-seekers remarked their great weight and the remarkable coldness to the touch, as they passed them around to each other in wonderment. For a long time the miners flung these minerals away with other refuse, unconscious of their character or their value; but one day there appeared in the dark sands of the gold-pans a stone which flashed forth such brilliant red gleams as to excite anew the curiosity and cupidity of the miners. This discovery led to inquiry, and the gold-seekers learned too late concerning the value of the treasures they had carelessly thrown away. Afterwards the gems were preserved and sent with the gold-dust to the States. They proved to be sapphires. Some of them were finely crystallized in long, regular prisms, but the most of them were without definite form. None of the several hundred specimens that have been submitted to us exhibited smooth faces, like the brilliant facets of crystals found in cavities of the crystalline rocks or in the gem mines of Ceylon; but all exhibited a roughness of the exterior, as though they had been abraded by aqueous action. The colors of these sapphires are generally faded or faint; some are snow-white, but the most of them are of a faint bluish or greenish cast. We have, however, seen small gems of fine red, yellow, hyacinth, light-blue, and celadine green. We have also information of a beautiful red sapphire of six karats, but failed to trace it after it was sent from Montana.